Innovative solutions can preserve water, our most precious resource

Across the globe, 2 billion people, or a quarter of the world’s population, do not have access to one of life’s essentials – clean, safe and plentiful drinking water .

The problem is acute in Asia, where approximately 30 per cent of the population is facing water scarcity, which can lead to geopolitical tensions around water supply . Much of Asia’s water is unevenly distributed. In some regions, there is too much rainfall in one area, but not enough in another. In other regions, the challenge is that too much water falls in one month, and not enough in others.

India is home to 18 per cent of the world’s people, but they only have access to 4 per cent of the world’s water resources . Worryingly, population growth means that India has only 1,000 cubic meters of water per capita, a dramatic drop from 3,000-4,000 in 1950. Compounding this is the unique challenge of India’s rainfall – half of the country’s annual rain falls in just 15 days.